This study analyzes the short-term consequences of visitors' use of different types of exhibits (i.e., "exemplars of phenomena" and "analogy based") together with the factors affecting visitors' understanding of and their evaluation of the use of such exhibits. One hundred and twenty five visitors (either alone or in groups) were observed …

Many people believe that environmental factors promote giftedness and invest in many programs to adopt gifted students providing them with challenging activities. Intellectual giftedness is founded on fluid intelligence and extends to more specific abilities through the growth and inputs from the environment. Acknowledging the roles played by the…

Since Polya, Wertheimer, and Hadamard's descriptions of qualitative reasoning strategies used by scientists and mathematicians, very little data have been collected on whether these strategies are actually used by experts. This study used video-taped thinking-aloud interviews to examine the problem solving strategies of professors and advanced…

A criticism of Youniss' (1975) dialectical conception of Piaget's figurative-operative distinction. It is suggested that the figurative-operative distinction does not meet the criteria for a subject-object dialectic. (JMB)

The study of problem solving is made through the analysis of the process that leads to the final answer. The type of information obtained through the study of the process is compared with the information obtained by studying the final answer. The experimental technique used permits to identify the sequence of questions (tactics) that subjects ask…

Discussion of Piaget's three catagories of contradiction. (MS)

Analyzes the Gambler's Fallacy, the perception of interdependence among events which are in fact unrelated. Describes how reasoning errors occur when the perceived interdependence influences predictions about subsequent events. Elaborates the distinction between Gambler's Fallacy and similar but sound reasoning strategies. (BH)

Describes how certain tendencies in reasoning, namely the failure to consider negative instances disconfirming evidence for one's hypotheses, may interfere with accurate personal and social judgments. Presents suggestions for clinical interventions that would help clients negate the destructive hypothesis they may have about themselves or others.…

Assessed 3- to 7-year-old children's sensitivity to logical necessity by contrasting performance in insufficient and sufficient information conditions. A search task used in Experiments 1 and 2 allowed children to search for additional information in insufficient conditions. A judgement condition used in Experiment 2 required a "can't tell"…

Reasoning and imagining are seen as very different acts of mind. Imagination connotes the counterfactual and the unruly; reasoning connotes a realistic and rule-bound activity. Good reasoning depends crucially on the vigorous exercise of imagination. Good informal reasoning is as difficult, and as dependent on imagination, as mathematical…

Logical positivism, or logical empiricism, emphasizes rationality, especially preferring the verification of facts over speculation. This report clearly places traditional research methodology in education in the arena of logical positivism. Since reality is seen as ordered and objective, assumptions are made about people and the gathering of…

Using one protocol (Role of Invisible Magnetism) and the Inhelder-Piaget method of analysis, the present investigators attempted to duplicate the results of Inhelder and Piaget. They found examples and evidence for only 8 of the 16 binary operations, and discovered 8 of the Inhelder-Piaget analyses were faulty. (Authors/MB)